Thank You Flowers, Thank You Bees!

"A flower blossoms for it's own joy"
-Oscar Wilde

The buzz and beauty of spring is unfolding in full bloom!

 Identifying and Harvesting Dandelion

Practicing fine motor scissor skills through plant harvesting. 

Dandelion Tea Party

Thank you bees for making honey to sweeten our tea!

Clover Blossom and Cleaver Tea Party!

Designing Pollinator Habitats

Egg Carton Flowers

​Herb Collecting Baskets!

​Watercolor Sunflowers

Fields of Clover

Life Cycle of Flowers

Buzz-worthy Books

​Pollinator Tag

We loved reading "Flight of the Honey Bee" and learned how the bees help the flowers make seeds by carrying pollen to different flowers and then played Pollination Tag!  The pollinators (bees) chase the flowers.  When a flower is tagged, it must give its pollen to the flower to pollinate it, and then turns into a fruit.  The game ends when most of the flowers have been pollinated and turned into fruits.

Apple Blossom Pollination

Pollination Imagination
... with pom poms and chalk dust.
Who are the bees? What is the pollen?

Bee Anatomy

How is honey made? What is your hypothesis?

Bees make honey by collecting sweet liquid from flowers (nectar), taking it back to their hive, and then processing it. They use their wings to dry the nectar, making it thick and sweet, and then store it in little wax boxes called honeycombs. 

​How do bees communicate?
​They dance!

Bees communicate ​through a 'waggle dance' to tell the other bees where the best pollen and nectar flowers.

Can you do a bee dance?

Did you know how quick their "waggle" communicates to the other bees how close their resources are? The faster the waggle the closer they are, the slower the waggle the farther they are.

We loved practicing our waggles and dances!

​Beeswax Alphabet

Art? Science? Both!
Coloring eggs with baking soda and food dye paste... what happens when we add vinegar?

​Obstacle Courses!

​Puddle Fun!

Worms!

Didgeridoo!

​Cicadas!

In the Garden

Practicing our digging skills in the sand box.

Using scissors to cut comfrey root to plant.
Did you know if you cut the root to about 2 inches and plant it you'll get a whole new comfrey plant?

. Using scissors to cut comfrey root to plant.
Did you know if you cut the root to about 2 inches and plant it you'll get a whole new comfrey plant?

Planting the root pieces! You only need to make a small push through the earth and stick the root horizontally and wait!

Math and Reading

Building words with blocks. How many words can we made if we switch out the first letter?

Math with blocks. What is 8 x 4? Let's count!

Writing out our daily rhythm!

Counting bugs and practicing writing our numbers

How many different kinds of bugs are there?
How many bugs are there total, let's count them all!
Let's see how many different kinds of bugs we can find in the yard!

What's similar and what's different?

Social- Emotional Learning : Working through changes

Heart full of feelings, what feelings make up your heart today?

Affirmations!

When change happens,
​ I know what to do
I welcome my feelings
and trust I'll get through

Transitions

What is change? How does change feel in your body?

Working through transitions. What is an transition? 
Who helps you?
What helps you?
How can we make transitions easier?

Tinkering : Building a Bug Motel

Attaching the screen as the final touch

Dandelion Focaccia

INGREDIENTS:
For the dough: 
1 Tsp active dry yeast
8oz warm water 
1 tsp sugar 
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
1 tsp salt 
1 tsp garlic powder 


For the toppings:
Forage for items you can eat right now such as Spring onions and Dandelions. 
You can add basically any edible plant to decorate with. 
Fresh Herbs ( rosemary, chives, parsley, basil, etc) 
5-6 Fresh garlic cloves 
Olive oil 


DIRECTIONS:
Place yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until yeast is activated. 
Once activated, add remaining dough ingredients to a mixer with a dough hook and knead until all is incorporated. 
Remove and knead by hand for 1 minute. 
Place ball of dough in bowl and cover. Let it rest for 2 hours. 
Remove and grease a 10x15 baking sheet
Shape dough into a rectangular shape. 
Cover and refrigerate for about 45 min 
Preheat oven to 450 F
Remove pan from fridge and use your fingers to create dimples across the surface. 
Coat with olive oil.
Decorate with your toppings in any desired manner.

Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for about 20 min or until golden brown. 
While baking mince garlic and place in a little olive oil and salt in a small saucepan. 
Warm it up gently so the garlic cooks a little bit. 
When the bread comes out of the oven brush with garlic mixture. 

Cool and enjoy!

Cutting up and adding dandelion

Banana Chocolate Monster Balls

​Balls:

• 4 small bananas mashed
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 1.5 cups sunflower seed butter  
• 2 large egg
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cups cacao powder
• 1/4 cup dried coconut flakes for sprinkles

Frosting:

• 4 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 3 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400° 
• Mix together banana, maple syrup, sunflower seed butter, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and cacao powder.
• Scoop onto cookie sheet with parchment paper and top with the chocolate chips. Bake for 7 minutes. 
• Mix together butter, honey, cacao, and vanilla for frosting
• Frost once cool and top with dried coconut flake sprinkles

Happy Birthday Teacher Anna!

Thank you lunch bunch helpers!

Sweet Friends!

See you next time!